If you ever need to remind yourself to breathe, this challenge is for you.

In Ayurveda, faster breathing (panting) is one of the 13 natural urges. Up there with burping, blinking, coughing, sneezing, etc. It’s a good list to know.

When I first heard that, it didn’t really make sense. Faster breathing? A natural urge?

It makes sense that I’d breathe faster when I’m exercising. But what I didn’t realize is that faster breathing is the natural urge for ALL activation. When we are stressed, scared, anxious, worried our body wants to breathe faster. When we are excited, emotional, joyful, surprised, our body wants to breathe faster.

But in reality, most of us have been socialized to stop breathing in moments of highs and lows. From our earliest days, stillness and silence is often rewarded. Emotions get pushed down with the breath.

And without our ability to breathe faster, we’re stuck holding our breath at the very moment our bodies want to breathe most. This leads to a cascade of emotional and physical problems that should have been initially swept away. It also means we are incapable of experiencing big emotions before we disassociate and check out.

We are in desperate need of people who don’t check out when emotions get big.

This challenge is not breathwork. It’s to help you restore the most basic breathing pattern in the body, panting. This is a nervous system sweeper, with the power to sweep today’s dust and yesterday’s traumas.

Take the next five days and work to re-establish this breath in your body. If you need extra help or support, reach out. I’m happy to answer questions or do a session to help you unlock this personally.

Enjoy!

Liz

Remember, the ideas offered in days 1-5 are just prompts to get you panting in all parts of your life. Take what feels good and leave the rest. What’s important is that you start breathing again.

Day 1 Prompts - How does it feel to move our body and breathe?

  • 1 - Get cozy and breathe

  • 2 - Gentle belly rub before breathing

  • 3 - Bounce and breathe

  • 4 - Power pose and breathe

  • 5 - Stretch or exercise and breathe

Day 2 Prompts - How does it feel to breathe with different emotions?

  • 1 - Anger or Sadness

  • 2 - Joy

  • 3 - Excitement

  • 4 - Love or Peace

  • 5 - Anxiety

Day 3 - Bring panting breath to the following places:

  • 1 - Barefoot on the grass

  • 2 - In water (shower or bath)

  • 3 - In a conversation (secretly pant!)

  • 4 - While your hands are doing something

  • 5 - While you drive or commute

Day 4 - Practice panting every time you feel stress or worry. If your mind races, pant with it!

Day 5 - What brings you joy and feelings and love? And some gentle panting to those things.

Do you have a story to share? Do you have a question or need some support?

I’d love to hear from you!